Posted on September 10, 2026 in ASRC News, Neuroscience Initiative, Photonics Initiative
New faculty bring expertise spanning photonics, artificial intelligence, neuroscience, and wave-based technologies.
The Advanced Science Research Center at the CUNY Graduate Center (CUNY ASRC) is welcoming three new faculty members in the 2026-2027 academic year, adding expertise in photonics, artificial intelligence, nanoscience, neuroscience, and engineered wave systems to the center’s interdisciplinary research community.
Joining the CUNY ASRC are Prasad Iyer, Ph.D., an associate professor in the Photonics Initiative with an appointment in Physics at the CUNY Graduate Center; J. Wren Kim, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Neuroscience Initiative with an appointment in Biology; and Dimitrios Sounas, Ph.D., an associate professor in the Photonics Initiative with an appointment in Physics.
“We are thrilled to welcome this exceptionally talented group of scientists to the ASRC,” said Mark Hauber, executive director of the CUNY ASRC. “Their both complementary and interdisciplinary set of expertise—from AI-driven experimentation and advanced photonics to the molecular mechanisms underlying healthy and diseased brain function—will expand the questions we can tackle and strengthen the collaborative research that is at the heart of the ASRC.”
Iyer joins the ASRC in January from Sandia National Laboratories, where he was a senior member of the technical staff and an affiliate scientist at the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies. His research combines artificial intelligence, nanoscience, and photonics, with a particular focus on autonomous laboratories that use machine learning to design and conduct experiments. He also studies reconfigurable metasurfaces, quantum dots, optical computing, and technologies for controlling light.
“I’m excited to join the ASRC because it brings together researchers with the expertise needed to connect AI, photonics, and nanoscience in new ways,” Iyer said. “I’m particularly looking forward to developing autonomous approaches to scientific discovery in an environment where ideas can move freely across disciplines.”
Kim comes to the ASRC from the University of California, Berkeley. His research explores how neuronal activity regulates gene expression and protein production, combining molecular and genomic approaches to understand how neural networks maintain healthy function. His work includes the development of tools that capture cellular responses to calcium signaling.
“I’m excited to join the ASRC because it offers a rare environment where interdisciplinary research can really thrive,” Kim said. “Many of the questions that motivate my work don’t fit neatly within a single discipline. The ASRC will allow me to pursue research at the intersections of fields.”
Sounas joins from Wayne State University and is a pioneering member of the CUNY-wide Spergel AI faculty hire initiative funded by the Simons Foundation. His research investigates how engineered materials and structures can control electromagnetic and acoustic waves, including metamaterials, time-varying structures, topological phenomena, and nonreciprocal systems.
“The ASRC’s advanced research facilities and uniquely interdisciplinary environment will give me the opportunity to push the boundaries of what we can do with engineered waves,” Sounas said. “I’m excited to work alongside researchers from different fields, use new capabilities and equipment, and ask questions that might not emerge within a single discipline.”